Hector stays home this year to meet some of the new Irish
Éire Nua: Hector Ó hEochagáin in Aghada, Co Cork, with Fernanda González from Argentina.
Hector Ó hEochagáin was in Mombasa, Kenya in March 2020 – “having a beer, swimming in the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean in 30 degrees” – when he got a series of texts from his kids telling him that schools were shuttering back in Ireland. It was the harbinger of the lockdown era that would become the new normal. He legged it home.
After decades of gadding about the globe making travel shows, Hector found himself grounded in Ireland because of the pandemic. He had to pivot: so, instead of travelling abroad, Hector has spent this year careering around the island meeting and chatting to 'New Irelanders' – the immigrants that have transformed Ireland in the space of a generation into a multicultural country.
The result of his labours is an engaging, four-part series, entitled Hector – Éire Nua. It shines a light on the different faces and fashions of Irish people today, lending an ear to some of their extraordinary stories.
“If I can do one thing with this series is I want people to open their eyes to the people who are walking the pavements and paths of the country,” says Hector, who is still grieving following the death of his brother, Freddie, in June. “We're not opening our ears to the people who are living in the villages and parishes of Ireland and to the amazing multicultural society we have become.
“I can't walk into my local supermarket in Claregalway without speaking Polish to the Polish guy in the shop. Some of these guys have been here for 15 to 20 years. These are the people that are running our petrol stations and newsagents, working on the building sites, in factories. There are so many immigrants who have come to this country looking for a new life.
“Everyone that I've met in this show has a unique story. Some of them have escaped from persecution and to save their lives, getting out of war-torn places. The majority of the people I’ve spoken to are busy. They're working. They’ve set up their own businesses. They've university degrees. They’ve brought a richness to their small parishes. Listen to the stories that these great people have to tell. The love that they have for my island, for my country makes me feel proud as an Irishman.”
On the flipside, Hector delves into the casual racism that some of his contributors are subjected to. For example, Úna-Minh Caomhánach, a young woman from Tralee, Co Kerry, who was adopted from Vietnam as a child, speaking as Gaeilge in lovely guttural flourishes, tells him about an incident she experienced while walking home from work in Dublin in 2013.
Passing a group of young guys walking against her, one of them shouted abuse, and then spat at her. No bystanders came up to console her. She said it wasn’t an isolated incident.
“You know what?” says Hector rhetorically: “It's not too long ago where we had to leave this island to get a better life. There’s a little attitude in this country still with certain people – that people who come from a foreign country to Ireland are stealing something that we have – they want to rob our money and get on the dole – and it's a load of bollocks. ‘Why are they here?’ Well, say that to an Irish person that went to Birmingham in the ’60s or to an Irish family that emigrated from Mayo to Boston or Chicago.
“When we're walking the street, we need to engage with people and listen to their stories. If a black man hops into a taxi, and he speaks with a Dublin accent, we still have a tendency to ask him, ‘Where are you from?’ They don't like that. I know it for a fact.
“I've covered a nice bit of topical stuff about racism and hatred. ‘Where are you from?’ is not something you would ask a white Irish person. We can’t yet assimilate that somebody who looks different can be Irish. It’s because we're not engaged with ‘foreigners’.”
Inevitably, some of Hector’s contributors have had to overcome extreme life circumstances in their countries of origin. The actor Fadl Mustapha works in Letterkenny, Co Donegal with some of the 4,000 refugees who arrive in Ireland each year seeking asylum, helping them to navigate Ireland’s bureaucratic system and social services.
He explains that he’s part of the third generation of his family to be in exile from Palestine since 1948. Hector has dozens of cheerful, invigorating stories to share, too, though.
“This series has a lot of karma in it,” says Hector. “This is the new world we live in. The new generation of Irish school kids have a bigger understanding of the changing face of Ireland because they look at their right and their left and they have no chips on their shoulders, going: ‘Where's your man from?’ They're just people they met and their friends. The new, younger Ireland will embrace all this. I want to open a different [older] generation to a great new Ireland – Éire Nua.”
- The first episode of Hector – Éire Nua will broadcast on TG4, 9.30pm, Thursday, September 30
The Gandharbe Brothers are part of a heartrending immigration phenomenon: they live and work in Ireland so they can send remittances home to their families in Nepal. Both are married with children. They arrived in Ireland in 1999 and run a fish ’n’ chip takeaway called Everest Express.
Fernanda González is the epitome of exuberance. Growing up in a high-rise apartment building in Buenos Aires, she dreamt about coming to Ireland since she was eight years’ old listening to U2’s War album. She’s now happily ensconced in East Cork living with her wife, Gayle.
Eloku Asokuh, or Luca as he’s known locally, is a Donegal legend. He was a child footballing prodigy in his native Nigeria, helping the country to win the under-17 World Cup in 1993, but he has made his home in Ballybofey where he’s revered for his services to Finn Harps soccer club.
Bob Miller made his money as the owner of a television network in Wisconsin, USA. He bought a house on Sheep’s Head peninsula, one of the remotest parts of Ireland, retiring there a few years ago with his wife, Pam. His friends thought he’d never last. Four years and counting and he hasn’t left yet.
